Hezbollah's Anti-ship missiles video from 2019 is misattributed to the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 8, 2023
A video purportedly showing Hezbollah’s anti-ship missiles has surfaced on various social media platforms. The claim accompanying this video asserts that the Lebanese group Hezbollah has showcased these missiles in response to the recent deployment of US warships in the Eastern Mediterranean. In this article, we will fact-check the claim.
Claim: The viral video shows Hezbollah’s anti-ship missiles displayed in response to the recent deployment of US warships in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Fact: Although the video does show Hezbollah’s anti-ship missiles, it originally dates back to 2019 and is not related to the recent movement of US warships. This makes the claim being circulated with the video Misleading.
To get a comprehensive understanding of the viral video, we carried out a reverse image search using a few of its keyframes. This search led us to a news report from 2019 that carried similar screenshots/visulas as in the viral video. The news report’s headline read, “Hezbollah shows anti-ship missiles used against Israel,” indicating that the video is, in fact, older than claimed in the misleading post.
We then conducted additional searches on the internet to uncover more details about the 2019 news reports. Multiple news articles (here, here, and here) echoed the same information – Hezbollah had unveiled anti-ship missiles, C-802, which were showcased in the video. A report by IsraelDefense.co.il mentioned that the missiles were of the same type that hit IDF Navy missile frigate Hanit during the Second Lebanon War.
Another report from August 2019 by Iranpress.com also featured the same video, stating, “Video footage depicting C-802 anti-ship cruise missiles has been released for the first time. They belonged to the Lebanese Hezbollah.”
Comparing the viral video to the original one from these reports, it is clear that they are indeed the same.
To sum up, the video circulating on social media is indeed showcasing Hezbollah’s anti-ship missiles. However, this is an old video from 2019 and not related to the recent deployment of US warships in the Eastern Mediterranean.